1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an anode active material, a lithium battery including the anode active material, and a method of preparing the anode active material, and more particularly, an anode active material having improved charge-discharge rate characteristics and improved lifetime characteristics, a lithium battery including the anode active material, and a method of preparing the anode active material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lithium batteries, and in particular, lithium ion batteries (“LIB” s) have been used as power sources for various portable devices due to their high energy density and ease of design. With recent use of LIBs as power sources for electric vehicles or power storages, and for portable information technology (“IT”) devices, there has been increasing research into materials for lithium ion batteries having high energy density and long lifetime.
In particular, regarding high-capacity anode active materials, anode active materials using silicon or silicon alloys have drawn attention as high-capacity anode active materials. However, anode active materials using silicon or silicon alloys may undergo significant volume change during charge and discharge of a lithium battery. This may cause the surface of silicon in the anode active material to be continuously exposed to an electrolyte in the lithium battery, and consequently lead to capacity loss in the lithium battery. Furthermore, such anode active materials using silicon or silicon alloys may have low electrical conductivity, and thus may result in lower performing lithium batteries.
Therefore, there still is a need for an anode active material having improved charge and discharge rate characteristics and improved lifetime characteristics, a lithium battery including the anode active material, and a method of preparing the anode active material.